Central Library

Calgary, Canada

Calgary is home to one of North America’s largest library systems, and the city now boasts an architectural masterpiece as the system’s central hub. The downtown complex, designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta, is flooded with natural light and features several aesthetic odes to its native land: walls made of cedar from nearby British Columbia, a curved facade meant to evoke cloud arches formed by the region’s Chinook winds. Of course, the library also houses an extensive collection of books—over 450,000. But it’s embracing its role as a broader educational center as well, offering learning labs, residency programs and even a digital production studio built for podcasters and YouTubers. —Wilder Davies